If you’re anything like me, by the time you’ve finished work, commuted home, thought about starting dinner, cooked, cleared up and – finally – sat down to breathe for a second, you already feel like any opportunity for true rest has passed you by. So you put it off. “I’ll sleep at the weekend,” I’ll often tell myself. “I’ll take it easy and cancel some plans and just chill for once,” I declare, before inevitably doing none of those things.

It’s been made clear to me before that you can’t ‘bank’ sleep. One chilled evening or a long weekend of R&R isn’t going to make a difference to a frazzled sleep cycle or an exhausted brain.

That being said, when it feels so hard to spend a decent amount of time doing ‘nothing,’ especially during the week, is there any chance that one long rest could be better for you than short, regular breaks?

Alongside the importance of physical health and fitness, adequate rest allows our bodies the chance to repair, rebuild and strengthen themselves in time for the next session, whether that’s a workout or a night out with friends. But is one way of resting more efficient than the others?

The benefits of short rests

Let me begin by confirming: napping is good for you. When it comes to boosting our energy levels, research has shown that taking a power nap in the afternoon is more effective than drinking a cup of coffee. The effect of taking a nap also lasts much longer than caffeine and has the added benefit of having no crash at the end.

That being said, it’s still important to prioritise at least seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Because for every one hour of sleep lost a night, we need about four days of consistently good sleep to catch up and restore those energy levels.

But does that mean we should aim for a daily power nap rather than a long weekend lie-in?

Short rests v long rests

According to Amy Arthur, science writer and author of Pace Yourself: How To Have Energy In An Exhausting World, while it can depend on individual functioning, on the whole we should rest little and often.

“From what we know about the body and how the brain uses energy, it’s better to build rest into your daily routine rather than draining yourself until the weekend arrives and hoping one day will revitalise you,” she explains. “Often, even when we intend to have a quiet or peaceful weekend, life will get in the way or we’ll feel guilt for not ‘doing anything’, so it never ends up being as restful as you need it to be.”

If you do find yourself living for the weekend and draining yourself down to zero by the time Friday comes around, Arthur suggests putting in the work to break the habit and adopt a more sustainable resting routine.

“Building in small amounts of rest every day will be much better for you in the long run, plus it means you can use your weekends to do the things you want rather than reserving them for catching up on sleep,” she adds.

Images: Getty